Federal stimulus bill passes, includes Metro aid
JEFFERSON CITY — The Missouri House tonight passed and sent to the governor a bill that allots about $380 million in federal budget stabilization funds for various projects around the state.
The House vote was 115-42. Earlier, the Senate passed it, 23-8.
Metro, the St. Louis-area transit agency, will receive $12 million to soften service cuts.
“The first thing they ‘ll do is restore Call-A-Ride” for the disabled, said Metro’s lobbyist, .Kathy Harness. She said administrators are studying which bus routes to restore.
Other beneficiaries of stimulus funding include: renovation of Benton and Stadler Halls on the UMSL campus, renovation of Bellefontaine Habiliation Center in St. Louis County, a new cancer hospital in Columbia, a wireless radio system for first responders and a historic courthouse in Jackson County.
Good to see the renovation of Benton and Stadler Halls on the UM-Saint Louis campus.
Ok Metro and Post Dispatch, prove this wrong - this Metro funding is one year only. So what happens a year from now???
why does Jackson County get the wireless radio system and they keep trying to make us pay a new tax for the one here?
“Underground..” I agree with you. This aid is only for a year. While this help is appreciated, the state of Missouri needs up their support of transit EVERY year. This is a bandaid, and the St. Louis Metro area will have to come up with a funding solution to keep this restored service going beyond 2010.
Money for Metro = money down the rat hole.
12 million for a highway… you get to keep the highway
12 million for Metro… and then it’s just gone.
My REP will hear about this…